The book ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ became the film ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’.
Apparently this was for the benefit of US audiences.
‘The Madness of King George III’ was changed to ‘The Madness of King George’ so that the US audience didn’t think it was the third of a trilogy.
The change from “Philosopher’s Stone” to “Sorcerer’s Stone” was before the movies, though. The American versions of the books all used the stupid version of the name, too.
The 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill was originally titled Licence Revoked. MGM changed the name after test screenings, in which US audiences were confused about the title – since, apparently, “license revoked” made them think of having one’s driver’s license revoked.
Necktie?
Game of Thrones, changes mostly made because they’re not confusing when written out, but are when spoken aloud:
Robert Arryn -> Robin Arryn, to avoid confusion with Robert Baratheon
Asha Greyjoy -> Yara Greyjoy, to avoid confusion with Osha Nolastname
the Others -> White Walkers (“which other guys?”)
And a few minor characters.
Netflix Jessica Jones:
Patricia “Patsy” Walker -> Patricia “Trish” Walker, though she used Patsy as a stage name.
I guess this one isn’t simplified really, just different. I drifted from the OP too much towards the end.
thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou. This is hilarious!
I’m pretty sure the name was “Phantasien”, with a “ph” and no “c”.
It might vary with translation. I’m pretty sure my (English) copy says “Fantastica”, too. But I can’t say what the original German was.
The original was German, right?
Furthermore, since it (φαντασία) is spelled “fantasy” in English, the fantastic land pretty much has to be called “Fantasia”. Or does it? Either way, nothing is simplified anywhere.
ETA the dictionary also lists “phantasy” as an older English spelling.
Yes, it was published in 1979 as Die unendliche Geschichte. I do not have a copy handy to check the spelling. The thing is, a lot of the names in the book were meaningful and/or evocative, so one hopes the translators took some care.
Also chapters start with consecutive letters of the alphabet (so what about the Chinese edition??), and maybe some other stuff I don’t remember.
Milton Berle would like a word with you.
I would have thought this would be one of the first mentioned: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? became Blade Runner when translated to the cinema.
Here’s one I should’ve remembered earlier, given my Doper name. In the novel This Island Earth by Raymond F. Jones the name of the head Metalunan* alien (the guy played by Jeff Morrow), the one who recruits that other Cal Meacham, is named Jorgasnovara, which sounds like its a mixture of Indian and Swedish. For the movie, that name was changed to the classy and British-sounding Exeter
*actually called the “Llanna”. I think the planet name “Metaluna” was invented for the film, another example of the extreme dumbing-down the story got in its transition to celluloid.
The name, itself, was taken froma novella by William S. Burroughs, which had begun as a film treatment of the novel Bladerunner, by Alan E. Nourse. Neither book has any connection to Dick’s novel.
When the producer and director of the movie we know as Blade Runner were trying to find a title they liked (having rejected the title of the Dick novel), the bought the rights to use the title from the other book.
Not a name, but a relationship: In the books, Bilbo and Frodo are first *and *second cousins, once removed either way. But in the film, Frodo just refers to Bilbo as his uncle.
ETA: Granted, they used that terminology in the book, too, but the movie never bothered to explain that it was just a shorthand way of talking.
They didn’t completely eliminate the name Bruce, though. It was shown as his middle name on his tombstone. He was never referred to as Bruce, though, always David.
I’ve also heard that they were worried about people confusing him with Batman.
I can’t imagine why (or how) you think that might happen. 